Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity using a murine monoclonal antibody against human colorectal cancer in cancer patients.

Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) mediated by a murine monoclonal antibody against human colorectal carcinoma, antibody 19-9, with human effector cells was tested in 33 patients with various carcinomas, 16 patients with benign lesions, and 13 normal controls, using a 12-h 51Cr release assay using human colorectal cancer cells as targets. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM) from these groups of patients and normal controls achieved moderate levels of target cell lysis in the presence of the monoclonal antibody at the high effector to target cell ratio of 200:1. The ADCC activity of PBM in cancer patients was significantly higher than that in either normal persons or patients with benign lesions. Since the ADCC was shown to be mainly mediated by adherent monocytes in the PBM, ADCC activity of monocytes from cancer patients was compared to those from control groups at an effector to target cell ratio of 30:1. The results also showed that the lytic capacity of monocytes was significantly higher in cancer patients than that in the control populations.